Life on Display: Revolutionizing U.S. Museums of Science and Natural History in the Twentieth Century
Book information
Description
Rich with archival detail and compelling characters, Life on Display uses the history of biological exhibitions to analyze museums’ shifting roles in twentieth-century American science and society. Karen A. Rader and Victoria E. M. Cain chronicle profound changes in these exhibitions―and the institutions that housed them―between 1910 and 1990, ultimately offering new perspectives on the history of museums, science, and science education. Rader and Cain explain why science and natural history museums began to welcome new audiences between the 1900s and the 1920s and chronicle the turmoil that resulted from the introduction of new kinds of biological displays. They describe how these displays of life changed dramatically once again in the 1930s and 1940s, as museums negotiated changing, often conflicting interests of scientists, educators, and visitors. The authors then reveal how museum staffs, facing intense public and scientific scrutiny, experimented with wildly different definitions of life science and life science education from the 1950s through the 1980s. The book concludes with a discussion of the influence that corporate sponsorship and blockbuster economics wielded over science and natural history museums in the century’s last decades. A vivid, entertaining study of the ways science and natural history museums shaped and were shaped by understandings of science and public education in the twentieth-century United States, Life on Display will appeal to historians, sociologists, and ethnographers of American science and culture, as well as museum practitioners and general readers. Karen A. Rader is associate professor in the Department of History at Virginia Commonwealth University. Victoria E. M. Cain is assistant professor in the Department of History at Northeastern University. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction: The Mission of Display......Page 16 Chapter 1. “A Vision of the Future”: The New Museum Idea and Display Reform, 1890–1915......Page 23 Chapter 2. The Drama of the Diorama, 1910–1935......Page 66 Chapter 3. Displays in Motion: Experimentation and Stagnation in Exhibition, 1925–1940......Page 106 Chapter 4. Diversifying Displays, Diverging Museums: Postwar Life Science Education, 1941–1956......Page 151 Chapter 5. “An Investment in the Future of America”: Competing Pedgogies in Post-Sputnik Museums, 1957–1969......Page 190 Chapter 6. The Exploratorium Effect: Redefining Relevance and Interactive Display, 1969–1980......Page 223 Chapter 7. From Diversity to Standardization: Edutainment and Engagement in Museums at the End of the Century, 1976–2005......Page 262 Notes......Page 298 Bibliographic Essay on Sources......Page 410 Bibliography......Page 424 Index......Page 464
Similar books
MySQL® Notes for Professionals book
2018 · PDF
MrExcel 2022: Boosting Excel
2022 · PDF
MrExcel 2022: Boosting Excel
2022 · PDF
Session C11: Ancient Cultural Landscapes in South Europe – their Ecological Setting and Evolution, Session C22: Gardeners from South America, Session S04: Agro-Pastoralism and Early Metallurgy Sessions, Session WS29: The Idea of Enclosure in Recent Iberian Prehistory, Session C88: Rhytmes et causalites des dynamiques de l'anthropisation en Europe entre 6500 ET 500 BC: Hypotheses socio-culturelles et/ou climatiques: Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon 4-9 September 2006) / Actes du XV Congrès Mondial (Lisbonne 4-9 Septembre 2006) Vol.36
2010 · PDF
THE BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA: ITS PRESERVATION BY AN APPROPRIATE CLOTHING, HOUSING, LOCATING, RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT, AND HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE TROOPS. with AN APPENDIX ON INDIA : THE CLIMATE OP ITS HILLS ; THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS RESODRCBS, INDUSTRY, AND ARTS ; THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ; THE BLACK ACT ; THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY ; THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM ; THE VALUE OF INDIA ; PERMANENT CAUSES OF DISAFFECTION, AND OF THE RECENT REBELLION ; THE TRADITIONARY POLICY; MISGOVERNMENT BY NATIVE RULERS ; ANNEXATIONS OF THEIR TERRITORY, ETC.
1858 · PDF
Idries Shah 27 Books Collection : A Perfumed Scorpion, A Veiled Gazelle, Caravan of Dreams, Darkest England, Destination Mecca, Evenings with Idries Shah, Knowing How to Know, Learning How to Learn, Letters and Lectures of Idries Shah, Neglected aspects of Sufi study, Observations, Oriental Magic, Reflections, Seeker after Truth, Special Illumination, Special Problems in the study of Sufi ideas, Sufi thought and action, Tales of the Dervishes, The Dermis Probe, The Elephant in the Dark, The Englishman Handbook, Idries Shah Antology, The Magic Monastery, The natives are restless, wisdom of the Idiots PDF.
2022 · PDF
The travels of Capts. Lewis and Clarke from St. Louis, by way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, to the Pacific ocean; performed in the years 1804, 1805 & 1806, by order of the government of the United States. Containing delineations of the manners, customs, religion, &c. of the Indians, comp. from various authentic sources, and original documents, and a summary of the Statistical view of the Indian nations, from the official communication of Meriwether Lewis. Illustrated with a map of the country, inhabited by the western tribes of Indians
1809 · PDF
Professional Linux kernel architecture ''Wrox programmer to programmer''--Cover. - ''What you are reading right now is the result of an evolution over more than seven years: After two years of writing, the first edition was published in German by Carl Hanser Verlag in 2003. It then described kernel 2.6.0. The test was used as a basis for the low-level design documentation for the EAL4+ security evaluation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, requiring to update it to kernel 2.6.18 (if the EAL acronym does not mean anything to you, then Wikipedia is once more your friend). Hewlett-Packard sponsored the translation into English and has, thankfully, granted the rights to publish the result. Updates to kernel 2.6.24 were then performed specifically for this book''--P. ix
2008 · PDF